


That Special Thing

by afinecollector (orphan_account)



Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: I don't know, Implied Adoption, Implied Child Abuse, Implied Incest, Implied paedophilia, Implied/Referenced Rape/Non-con, Other, implied molestation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-01
Updated: 2016-09-01
Packaged: 2018-08-12 07:25:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Underage
Chapters: 1
Words: 731
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7925860
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/afinecollector
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p><br/>‘No,’ Mycroft tells him. ‘I’m not jealous!’ Mycroft’s face gets very red and he pulls Sherlock by the arm and tries to get him to come outside and read with him in the garden. Sherlock always says ‘No,’ because Sherlock wants their father to paint him some more.</p>
            </blockquote>





	That Special Thing

**Author's Note:**

> WARNING!  
> Although there is nothing directly stated, when I read through this story at the halfway point, I realised there was a heavy reference to child pornography/incest/abuse that I hadn't intended on. However, me being me, I continued and I found the story to work.   
> IF YOU DO NOT WISH TO READ THESE THEMES, TAKE THIS AS YOUR WARNING TO TURN AWAY FROM THIS STORY NOW.   
> With this warning being laid out, I make no apologies for your being offended if you choose to read beyond this point.

Mummy’s study is a wondrous place; the walls are lined with books, the desk is cluttered, and the chair is never pushed in neatly. There are pens, and markers, and pencils that are always sharp. There is no bulb in the ceiling light, ensconced by a large and intricate rose, but there are lots of Tiffany lamps that glow and give the red-painted room an almost luxurious, ‘expensive library’ feel.

And Sherlock, he likes her study a lot. It smells of her hugs, and of coffee, and of old books. 

Mummy doesn’t spend as much time in her study as she once did, and she reminds Sherlock of this when she brings him in to choose a book each week. She reminds him that, before he and Mycroft were born, she spent numerous hours in there, writing books and studying. Sherlock thinks that that is the most wonderful thing his Mummy could ever have done - written a book, that is - because Sherlock loves books almost as much as he loves his Mummy. 

Sherlock loves it when his Mummy says they’ll stay in the study and read. He likes it when she draws him onto her lap in the leather chair, cups her arms tight around his waist and pulls him in close to her. He likes it when she kisses his forehead and tells him he’s her special boy. 

But when Sherlock turns eight, his Mummy stops letting him into the study as often. She tells him ‘I’ve gone back to work, Locky. I’m busy in there while you’re at school, and there are important documents. I can’t have you going in and out, moving things.’ She tells him, ‘No Locky, you cannot borrow that book - I need it.’ She tells him, ‘I don’t have time for a book this weekend, Locky, I have work to do…’. 

And Sherlock, he doesn’t like Mummy’s study so much anymore. It smells of cigarettes, and coffee, and old books. He thinks it still smells like her hugs. It definitely smells of her perfume. 

Sherlock discovers that he likes his father’s office, though. His father has an office beside the kitchen. He doesn’t do work in there, though. In his father’s office, there are sketchbooks and paints, an aisle that has had the same canvas on it for months, but it changes a little bit every week. There are paintings on the wall in great, big frames and in the corner of every painting it says ‘W.S. Holmes’ in swirling handwriting and Sherlock knows that that is his father’s signature. 

His father shows him his paintings; there are paintings of Mummy, and of Mycroft, and there are paintings of Sherlock, too. There is a painting that his father says is his favourite. He tells him, ‘Look, Locky, it’s you when you were small.’ He tells him, ‘You had curly hair, even then, and your eyes are bright and blue like Mummy’s.’ He tells him, ‘You look just like her.’ 

But Mycroft tells Sherlock that he doesn’t look like her. He says, ‘No, Sherlock, you do not have Mummy’s eyes.’ He says, ‘Your hair is not the same as mine.’ Mycroft tells him to grow up, to stand on his own two feet. Mycroft tells him that he has to be a big boy, now. Mycroft tells him that he shouldn’t bother Mummy, that he shouldn’t spend so long looking at their father’s paintings. 

And Sherlock, he wonders why Mycroft doesn’t like it when Sherlock talks about Mummy’s books, and their father’s paintings of them when they were small. He wonders why Mycroft is sour-faced and grumpy every time Sherlock shows him a new painting from their father, one of the freckles on his nose, and one of his curls in his eyes. He wonders if Mycroft is jealous. 

‘No,’ Mycroft tells him. ‘I’m not jealous!’ Mycroft’s face gets very red and he pulls Sherlock by the arm and tries to get him to come outside and read with him in the garden. Sherlock always says ‘No,’ because Sherlock wants their father to paint him some more. 

But Sherlock knows that he is. Sherlock knows that Mycroft is jealous that their father doesn’t paint him anymore. He knows that Mycroft is jealous of how their father always tells Sherlock how handsome he is growing up to be. Sherlock knows Mycroft wishes he was handsome, too.


End file.
